Figure 2

Immunohistochemistry for ATRY in the tammar testis (A, C, E) and ATRX in the tammar ovary (B, D) and mouse ovary and testis (F, H). Antibody staining is shown by brown/red staining and tissues are counterstained blue with haematoxylin. In the developing tammar before gonadal sex determination, ATRX was confined to the primitive sex cords (A, B, developing seminiferous tubules in males or cortical cords in females) of both sexes. After testicular differentiation, ATRY protein was localized in the Sertoli cells and germ cells of the seminiferous tubules (C). This is clearly evident by day 8 post partum, where ATRY was clearly nuclear in both Sertoli and germ cells (E). By day 40 post partum the same pattern was seen as well as expression in a subset of interstitial cells that resemble Leydig cells (G). An identical protein localization was seen for ATRX in the mouse developing testis (H) with nuclear staining detected in the Sertoli cells, germ cells and some interstitial cells. After ovarian differentiation, ATRX protein was strongly nuclear and restricted to the germ cell lineage (D). An identical staining pattern was seen for ATRX in the mouse ovary (F). GC - germ cell, SC - Sertoli cell, ST - seminiferous tubule, CC - cortical cords, Scale bar = 500 μm.